A Victorian writer was to mention: "Hungerford Market was for many years a disgrace to the metropolis: as a market, it existed in name only, and was altogether a nuisance". Although the site was not very popular, it did have an eventful history. Erected in 1680 and rebuilt in 1831, Hungerford Market sought to rival the other markets found at Leadenhall, Billingsgate and Covent Garden. Carlo Gatti, an enterprising Swiss who created chocolate machines for the Great Exhibition in 1851, maintained a stall here. Gatti was to later build an entertainment venue, Hungerford Hall, following a disastrous fire which destroyed the market in 1854. The South Eastern Railway company was to compensate Gatti for replacing the hall with Charing Cross Station, which remains one of the capital's major transport centres. Hungerford Bridge, built by IK Brunel in 1844, was originally used to provide a pedestrian link between the market and the South Bank. It was later modified to carry the railway from Charing Cross, and remains the only bridge to transport pedestrians and trains over the River Thames.